just another graceless night
by antarcticas
Summary: Narcissa was a good girl, and she danced when she was told, and she acted like she cared - (lucius/narcissa, tgs tiggerific challenge #10)


**The Golden Snitch**

 **Challenge:** Tiggerific Times

 **Prompt:** (pairing) Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy

 **Characters:** Narcissa Black, Lucius Malfoy, Thoros Nott

 **Word Count:** 715

 **Other:** Written by collapsar, Slytherin, Hogwarts

 **Points:** 5 house points

* * *

Narcissa Black has always hated dancing - she knows how to do it, of course, knows how to flutter through the steps and smile at her partner with the correct amount of teeth. Her mother had always insisted on dance lessons for her, and she had not been able to say no.

That, perhaps, was her weakness; her inclination to reply ' _yes'_ to anything asked of her. Andromeda had always been comfortable saying no to their parents, and often didn't even hear out their requests before walking away. Bellatrix, as well, rarely replied positively to any remark by her mother and father.

Narcissa, however - Narcissa was the _good girl._ Narcissa learned how to dance, spending years in lessons, despite hating the intimacy of the act. Narcissa learned how to stand still for hours, to let seamstresses create fanciful creations for her, ones she would rarely wear twice. Narcissa could smile and discuss the weather for hours, talking on and on about clouds and humidity even though _no one cared._

It was this fault in her character that led to her standing in front of a pompous Thoros Nott, poised to begin the fourth dance of the evening. The man was muttering something about property in Greece to her, spittle flying out of his mouth whenever he hit certain consonants. She nodded her head at some points, letting out a, "Yes, I see," whenever he stopped to find her opinion on different forms of cutlery.

The music began to play, and the man grew quiet as he spun her around. His lumbering, large feet were awkward around her, forcing her to daintily readjust her footing before beginning the next step.

It was in the middle of a turn that Thoros suddenly stumbled. Teetering back and forth, he managed to keep his balance - Narcissa did not. She fell, backward, shock written all over her face. Thoros reached for her, but he was not quite able to catch her . . .

And so Narcissa fell, knowing in the back of her mind that she would probably hit the cold marble floor and badly break some part of her body. _Falling, falling . . ._ and then she was not.

"Thoros," a cold, callous voice said from above her, a grip still on her waist, "I suggest you learn how to ballroom dance again. That was not a graceful spin."

 _Oh, no,_ Narcissa thought in that moment, because now she knew who her savior was - Lucius Malfoy, the pureblood poster-child, the richest member of society at this ball. Someone who she had met before in Hogwarts and someone who she could not stand.

Lucius was like a statue, seemingly a work by Michelangelo himself. He was deadly handsome and deadly simply - you did not _run into him._ He was likely, now, to call in this move for a favor, later.

She took in a deep, shuddering breath, and stood up, expecting Lucius to let go of her waist.

He, strangely, did not. If anything, his grip tightened on her skirt.

"Thank you, sir," Narcissa dipped her head at him. He nodded in response but still did not let go, choosing to glare at Thoros, who was looking at his hand in disgust. It was _simply not proper_ for a civilized man to touch a woman like that before marriage.

 _Not that we,_ she reminded herself, _would ever get married._

"I'll talk to you later, Thoros," Lucius said. And then he slid his hand to Narcissa's elbow, sliding it through her arm so they were in a proper position, and walked off the dance floor, leaving in the middle of the song. Thoros hurried after them, trying to be inconspicuous, though the majority of the society had already noticed his slip-up.

Lucius led Narcissa outside, guiding her by the elbow. When they reached the stars, he finally released her. "Are you alright?"

She fought the urge to both wipe her arm and ask him why he had led her away from the dance. "Yes," she said, primly, properly, "I'm well, thank you."

He let out a bit of a smile - well, more of a smirk, really, the corners of his mouth slightly raising. "That's excellent."

That was the first day Narcissa Black ever saw Lucius Malfoy smile.

It would certainly not be the last.

 **[my linebreak isn't working]**

 **i have writers block can't you tell? sorry for the quality but i really wanted to push this out :(**


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